Summarize Interview
Turn raw user interview transcripts into stakeholder-ready themes, JTBD, pain points, quotes, and action items after discovery calls.
Overview
Summarize Interview is an agent skill most often used in Validate (also Idea audience, Grow support) that turns user interview transcripts into structured insights, quotes, and action items for product decisions.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/owl-listener/designer-skills --skill summarize-interviewWhat is this skill?
- Structured output: participant profile, 3–5 key themes, jobs-to-be-done, pain points with severity
- Captures workarounds, delighters, 5–8 notable verbatim quotes, and surprises
- Explicit action items for design and research follow-ups
- Confidence rating per insight (stated vs inferred)
- Scannable format for sharing with stakeholders
- 3–5 key themes per summary
- Pain points documented with severity
Adoption & trust: 561 installs on skills.sh; 1.5k GitHub stars; 3/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
You finished user interviews but only have long transcripts and no fast way to extract themes, evidence, and follow-ups your team can act on.
Who is it for?
Solo builders and indie PM-designers running lean discovery who need consistent interview readouts without hiring a researcher.
Skip if: Running the interview protocol, recruiting participants, or quantitative survey analysis without a transcript artifact.
When should I use this skill?
After conducting user interviews, when you have a transcript file or pasted text and need structured insights to share efficiently.
What do I get? / Deliverables
You get a scannable research summary with themed insights, quoted evidence, confidence notes, and specific design or research action items ready for stakeholders.
- Structured interview summary with themes, JTBD, and pain severities
- Notable quotes and design or research action items with confidence ratings
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Spans multiple journey phases - primary shelf plus alternate fits below.
Interview synthesis is the canonical Validate shelf step when you are scoping what to build from real user evidence before locking MVP features. Scope subphase covers narrowing problem space from research; structured interview summaries directly inform what is in or out of v1.
Where it fits
Collapse five discovery interviews into one scope doc with severity-rated pain points before you cut MVP features.
Compare interview themes across two early-adopter segments to decide which audience gets the landing-page message.
Summarize churn or support interviews into delighters and gaps for your lifecycle email and help-center refresh.
How it compares
Interview synthesis template for agents—not a recruiting tool or automated transcription service.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is summarize-interview for?
Solo and indie builders doing their own UX discovery who want agent help summarizing transcripts into themes, JTBD, and backlog-ready action items.
When should I use summarize-interview?
After Validate discovery calls to scope the MVP; during Idea audience research to compare segments; and in Grow support when customer interviews reveal lifecycle or content gaps.
Is summarize-interview safe to install?
The skill processes transcript text you supply; review the Security Audits panel on this Prism page and avoid pasting PII you are not allowed to store in agent logs.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Summarize Interview
# Summarize Interview Summarize a user interview transcript into structured, actionable insights. ## Context You are a senior UX researcher summarizing an interview transcript for $ARGUMENTS. The user will provide a transcript file or paste the transcript text. ## Instructions 1. **Read the transcript** carefully, noting key moments. 2. **Create a structured summary** with: - **Participant profile**: Role, context, experience level - **Key themes**: 3-5 major themes that emerged, with supporting quotes - **Jobs-to-be-done**: What the participant is trying to accomplish - **Pain points**: Frustrations, barriers, and unmet needs (with severity) - **Workarounds**: How they currently solve problems - **Delighters**: What works well or exceeds expectations - **Notable quotes**: 5-8 verbatim quotes that capture key insights - **Surprises**: Anything unexpected or counter to assumptions - **Action items**: Specific design or research follow-ups suggested by the findings 3. **Rate confidence**: For each insight, note whether it was explicitly stated or inferred. 4. Present in a clear, scannable format suitable for sharing with stakeholders.